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Week 3 Federspiel

This is Week 3 journal entry from Isaac Federspiel, who is a student reporter for the War: Through Their Eyes, Vol. 3, Warriors & Students multimedia project.

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In third meeting with Dustin, I learned the oddest fact about the wars overseas that I’ve ever heard. Apparently, for an insurgent to get paid, they need video proof of their attacks. The method of doing this is usually YouTube.

Yes, there are videos of American military bases in Iraq getting attacked on YouTube. This came up when I was talking with Dustin about an IRAM attack (Improved Rocket Assisted Motor), which is a metal tube stuffed with explosives and attached to a rocket, on JSS Ur, the base he was staying at. Dustin described this event as the most terrified he has ever been.

A few weeks after it occurred, he and some other soldiers watched it on YouTube. To this day, you can still find footage of the rockets propelling the IRAM’s toward JSS Ur on YouTube. There is a very distinct explosion and dust cloud in the video, which shows that it is from when the generator was hit.

I could not believe that this instance was on YouTube. Even more unbelievable is that it is commonplace. There is way more attacks on YouTube than just this one. It’s very strange to be able to actually see and hear what goes on over there, instead of relying on stories and my imagination.